Hate to sound like a complete "noob" - but I am........

Hello and welcome this is the right place to get advice. There are some brides on here also that have low budgets. Ebay is great for a bargain in a suprising number of things. Alist which has must have like venue and nice but not essential is good then get some estimates and put them on your list for an idea of price. There was a ist somewhere maybe someone can find it for you

Carol

Hi & welcome to Hitched..

Firstly I would work out how much money per month/week you and OH can save. Once you work that out you will know roughly what your budget can be-Myself & OH paid off in full as we went along but others do different things, that was just what suited us best.

Also SHOP AROUND!! You'll be surprised at how different prices can be & haggle prices-if you dont ask you dont get and a lot of suppliers actually expect you to.

HTH

GOOD LUCK!! HAVE FUN!!

Thanks folks ? much appreciated! Will have to pin OH down sometime and work things out.....funny how there's always other things that come up tho....

Its always best to be realistic with saving and budget. Dont try for something thats gonna end up with you struggling because then it will be stressful and a worry x

Welcome to Hitched!

Start off by doing lots of research and then do a realistic budget in excel. There is a guide on Hitched I think somewhere which sets out the main things you'll need to book. But dont forget about the little things either as they soon mount up. There is so much information on the internet you can get a good idea of cost just from google-ing. Another thing that will dramatically affect your budget will be the amount of guests you have.

You can certainly have an amazing wedding on a small budget - you will just have to shop around more!

xxx

Hello and welcome, ,

If you are realistic and sensible you really can have a fabulous wedding on a budget. A couple of my friends have had late afternoon weddings with just a disco and a buffet in the evening. Both weddings were relaxed, fun and memorable, ,

xx

Hi & Welcome to Hitched ?

You will find lots of great advice here, the girls are a mine of information!

If you need any help just shout.

Hi Karen

I too am having a budget wedding as we have 2 kids and H2B is a stay at home dad. I have managed to get lots of bits already by bargain hunting! Don't think I have paid full price for anything yet! Our wedding is on a Sunday which meant 25% off all food. Make your own budget and don't go by the scary prices in the wedding magazines! You can get fantastic ideas from here tho!

Marie xxx

Thank you, all of you ?

great to finally have some people i can talk to about this, something thats been going round and round in my head for ages now, not knowing who i could turn to or anyone who had the time to listen......at least now I know where I can come to for advice and help, people who have been thru or are going thru the same stuff and who wont get bored of it!! lol

Again, I thank you all x at least now I have somewhere to start

My one big tip.... would be to get a pre worn dress. I bought a sample suzanne neville dress. This would have normally cost well over £2k, and I got it for much less than this. Howver if I bought it on ebay this cost would have much less.

Had I known that they would have cost a fraction of the cost pre worn I would have opted for this. A similar one to mine was for sale on e bay for £50!!!

I would suggest going to a dress shop try on loads of styles that you like then buy from ebay.... save you a fortune.

Enjoy your wedding planning!!! I loved it!!!

Hello, I was exactly the same as you - had no idea how much anything cost etc. It was all good & well reading advice in magazines to set a budget but it was really hard not knowing how much stuff cost.

I'd agree that you probably need to work out how much you'll be able to realistically save up. When I'd decided on my total budget, I found a guide as to what percentage of their budget people normally allocate to certain things in their wedding. The one I used as a base was this:

Ceremony - 7% of total budget

Reception (I've included venue, food etc. here) - 45% of total budget

Entertainment - 5% of total budget

Photography - 1% of total budget

Stationery - 2% of total budget

Transport - 1% of total budget

Rings - 5% of total budget

Clothes & shoes - 7% of total budget

Cake - 2% of total budget

Flowers - 8% of total budget

Other/contingency fund - 7% of total budget.

When I worked out the amounts from my total budget, I found I had a rough guide of how much I could spend on each thing. I tinkered with it a bit and changed bits here & there depending on what was important to us.

Not sure if that will help at all or whether I'm just odd & have confused you even more!!

Oh such a wonderful mine of information.......thank you ladies ?

I love the percentage set out, no it doesn't confuse me - don't think i could get any more confused TBH!! lol Altho 1 thing does intrigue me - 7% for clothes and shoes? does that include H2b's suit as well as my dress?? ouch!!

hmm guess i need to go away and do some sums and definitely take this new job i've been offered ?

Thanks again x

TBH I haven't included anything to do with my outfit - dress, shoes, underwear, jewellery, hair & make-up, in our budget am my lovely lovely mum kindly offered to pay for them. But it could include whatever you want. I changed bits here & there to suit us.

Good luck & enjoy the planning

x